At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old coot, music has really lost it's edge. I think it's because songs aren't really about anything anymore, or are just about love, leaving little or no variety in terms of what people are actually singing about.
In the past year, what have the most successful songs been about? Let's have a look...
According to itunes, the top 10 best selling singles of 2009 were as follows:
1. "I Gotta Feeling," Black Eyed Peas 2. "Poker Face," Lady Gaga
3. "Just Dance," Colby O'Donis / Lady GaGa
4. "Boom Boom Pow," Black Eyed Peas
5. "Fight For This Love," Cheryl Cole
6. "In For The Kill," La Roux
7. "Number 1," Tinchy Stryder
8. "Bad Boys (feat. Flo Rida)," Alexandra Burke
9. "The Fear," Lily Allen
10. "Use Somebody," Kings Of Leon
I'll give credit where credit's due with this one... "I Gotta Feeling" and "Just Dance" are both about partying, as far as I can make out, and "Boom Boom Pow" doesn't appear to actually be about anything.
This only leaves Lily Allen's "The Fear" that is actually about something, the curse of celebrity. Something that the public knows a lot about and can relate to. OK, so it goes slightly deeper than that, about the changing aspirations of girls in Britain in the past decade or so, and our obsession with getting famous at any cost. But it is just one song out of ten, on that list.
Other songs last year seem to have focused mainly on the areas of:
- women looking nice dancing in clubs,
- women being attracted to men dancing in clubs,
- being on fire
OK, so Kasabian did quite alright with "Fire" and, other than Snow Patrol's "Up to Now album", it was the only song I have bought that was made in 2009. Of course, I am a bit retro in terms of music, but even I liked The Arctic Monkeys at the height of their powers, and fell in love with The Kaiser Chiefs and their Jam-reminiscent style. Undoubtedly there were some good tunes from artists I haven't heard on the radio, and I'd be the first to admit I'm not that big on any particular music scene at the moment.
This leaves us with the question of why. Why are pop musicians, the voices of the younger generations, singing about such mindless crap? Go back forty years, and the Beatles, the Who, the Kinks and the Stones were singing about political revolution (er, "Revolution") and social struggles (a special nod here to "Shangri-La" and "Won't get Fooled Again"), changing the world. Go forwards ten years, and we get punk rock, with the Sex Pistols advocating anarchism, and The Clash calling for political upheaval. The Jam did some damn fine work in the late 70s/early 80s with "That's Entertainment," "Going Underground" and "Town Called Malice." Morrissey was so successful because he combined good music with lyrics that actually meant something, rather than just the usual twaddle about how good it is to get drunk. In the Nineties, Britpop made a few social statements as well, notably "Cigarettes and Alcohol," "Parklife," and eventually "Bittersweet Symphony" in 1997. Even as much as two years ago, the Kaiser Chiefs sang that "Everything is Average Nowadays," and a few years before, The Arctic Monkeys looked at everyday life and gave us the likes of "Brianstorm." Even Razorlight chipped in with "America".
My main point, however, is this: do we, as a generation, simply not care about the world around us anymore? Or is life so good, the government doing such a good job, that we don't want to change anything? Let's just hope that this generation gets its act together pretty soon.
This leaves us with the question of why. Why are pop musicians, the voices of the younger generations, singing about such mindless crap? Go back forty years, and the Beatles, the Who, the Kinks and the Stones were singing about political revolution (er, "Revolution") and social struggles (a special nod here to "Shangri-La" and "Won't get Fooled Again"), changing the world. Go forwards ten years, and we get punk rock, with the Sex Pistols advocating anarchism, and The Clash calling for political upheaval. The Jam did some damn fine work in the late 70s/early 80s with "That's Entertainment," "Going Underground" and "Town Called Malice." Morrissey was so successful because he combined good music with lyrics that actually meant something, rather than just the usual twaddle about how good it is to get drunk. In the Nineties, Britpop made a few social statements as well, notably "Cigarettes and Alcohol," "Parklife," and eventually "Bittersweet Symphony" in 1997. Even as much as two years ago, the Kaiser Chiefs sang that "Everything is Average Nowadays," and a few years before, The Arctic Monkeys looked at everyday life and gave us the likes of "Brianstorm." Even Razorlight chipped in with "America".
My main point, however, is this: do we, as a generation, simply not care about the world around us anymore? Or is life so good, the government doing such a good job, that we don't want to change anything? Let's just hope that this generation gets its act together pretty soon.
3 comments:
To be fair most of the artists you listed belong to a genre of music that does not cater for political messages or deep, meaningful content and instead cater for a market that is more into the dance and entertainment side of the music scene.
So therefore, simply listing the top 10 singles of this year and claiming that subsequently artists dont care about politics is more than just a little short sighted.
Thousands of songs are released everywhere by hundreds of different artists working within hundreds of different genres so picking a few club songs to illustrate your arguement isn't valid.
This year we've seen new releases by Jamie T (a brutal look at society among the young and working classes), Flobots (anti-captilist, anti-war rappers who focus on american politics), Hadouken and Plan B (a cutting insight into youth culture and the pressures of growing up in an inner city society) and many more than i cant be bothered to research and bring up.
Just because the political hotbed of the 1960's has gone and traditional rock and roll has been replaced by rap and rnb does not mean political music is dead and buried. More, the focus has switched from anti-war, anti-establishment rock and roll from the likes of the rolling stones, cleardance, clearwater revival et al and more to examinations of society and things that affect the young more directly.
Your blog is interesting and raises valid points, you just have the tendancy to come accross as arrogant and smarmy.
Thank you Anon., your opinion is valid and it's all taken into consideration. Just to let you know this wasn't written by me, instead another writer on the website (all posts not by me are headed with 'The Kid'). The aim of this writer is to come across with this attitude, so thank you for your feedback. Please keep reading!
I'm going to assume by the fact that you posted this at 2:26 am that you are American? I apologise for any oversights made with regards to American bands. I was, however, on about things that I am likely to have heard on the radio in Britain, the likes of the songs that I listed. I am more of a casual music listener than anything, and as I have already said, any oversights are my fault. The point I was making was, as you said, that the songs I selected (read: copied and pasted from iTunes) focus more on "entertainment," as opposed to "politics," and from there I was expanding, as is the feeling that I generally get from people I go to college with, that most "young people" don't care too much about politics.
You made valid points, but I object to the closing remark; arrogant I can deal with, I know that I am naturally quite arrogant anyway. I object, however, to being called "smarmy," and I wonder if you know what that word actually means. If anything, I was more irreverent towards current popstars than anything, and I didn't feel particularly obsequious or ingratiating during the article. Who was I trying to impress?
Either way, keep reading, and I'll try and research my articles as closely as you believe that I should in future. Obviously my ignorance offends you.
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